Lenny is a queen of romantic fiction in new comedy

Nobody’s Fool sees the return of Lenny, who writes romantic novels under the pseudonym of Myrtle Banbury, the hero/heroine of Simon Williams’s past play Nobody’s Perfect.

Shy and timid Lenny, an un-willingly divorced statistician, has been hiding the secret of his alter ego from the outside world for years.

The best-selling author shares a house with his father, who enjoys spending time flirting with women, and his teenage daughter Dee Dee.

In the new sequel Nobody’s Fool, Lenny finds himself with the problem of how to conduct an interview with pushy interviewer Leticia Butters who is insisting that Myrtle appears alongside Lenny.

Along with sorting out this problem, there is the added complication of Lenny’s ex-wife Fran, who has popped in and out of the family’s life, and in whose presence Lenny becomes ever more acutely shy.

She lets the cat out of the bag concerning a few secrets of her own.

With the aid of modern technology, Gus and Dee Dee attempt to solve the problem of how to avoid Lenny and Myrtle having to appear together; an exercise which will surely result in mayhem.

Nobody’s Fool, running at Keighley Playhouse in Devonshire Street from January 28 to February 2 at 7.30pm, is directed by Deborah Mouat.

Simon Williams has written several plays including Kiss of Death, Switchback and Laying the Ghost, but he is best known as a TV, film, radio and stage actor.

Williams’s first play Nobody’s Perfect – originally entitled Kiss My Aunt – premiered at the Mill Theatre in Sonning in 1997 and went on to be produced in Germany and the Czech Republic.

The sequel, Nobody’s Fool, began life as Boys Will Be Boys and opened at Sonning in summer 2003, touring nationally the following year.

Nobody’s Perfect saw Leonard Loftus enter a competition run by a feminist publishing house to find new romantic fiction.

Forced to submit his work under a female pseudonym, he ended up posing as his creation, the situation complicated even further when he fell in love with the competition’s organiser.

Born in 1946, Simon Williams first appeared on television in 1967 in the thriller series Man in a Suitcase, but his big break came in the 1970s when he played James Bellamy for 37 episodes in the famous period drama Upstairs, Downstairs.

He went on to play many upper middle class or aristocratic upper class roles. He played Charles Cartwright in the sitcom Don’t Wait Up, and Charles Merrick in medical drama Holby City.

Since 2014, Williams has played the character of Justin Elliott in the long-running BBC Radio 4 series The Archers.

On radio he also played Hercule Poirot’s sidekick Captain Hastings in several BBC Radio 4 adaptations of Agatha Christie novel.

Williams’s film career from the 1960s onwards includes The Touchables, The Odd Job, The Gathering Storm, The Prisoner of Zenda and The Fiendish Plot of Dr Fu Manchu.

His TV work also includes Doctor Who, Juliet Bravo, Bergerac, Bad Girls, Heartbeat, Doctors, Casualty, Spooks, EastEnders and The Bill.

Williams has served the Actors’ Charitable Trust for more than 30 years, and has written the novels Talking Oscars and Kill The Lights.

Keighley Playhouse will perform Peter Quilter’s black comedy Saving Jason on March 18-23.

Debbie and Mike Ellison will direct the story of Trevor and Linda, who are at their wits’ end with their rebellious son Jason and his lifestyle of raves, booze and ecstasy tablets.

They decide to stage his funeral, convinced that when faced with his own mortality, he will mend his ways.

Aunt Angela and Uncle Derek join in the charade but soon voices are raised and too much alcohol is drunk and the whole scenario descends into chaos. Performance begins at

Ronald Harwood’s modern classic The Dresser will be directed by Robert Martin when he returns to the Playhouse stage on May 6-11.

A mighty thespian, last of the dying breed of actor-managers, is in a very bad way.

His dresser, Norman, with a Herculean effort gets him on to the stage even though he is having trouble remembering who and where he is, let alone his lines.

Against all odds he makes it through the performance but the effort takes its toll, in this acclaimed drama.

Patrick Barlow, the writer of hit comedy adventure The 39 Steps, has taken a similar approach to the ancient Roman tale of Ben Hur.

In an end-of-season production directed by Kevin Moore, Barlow has condensed the epic story so it can be performed by four actors.

Ben will go from prince to merchant to galley slave to champion charioteer, and along the way meet senators, soldiers, nubile dancing girls and biblical characters.

Call 07599 890769 to book tickets for any of the Keighley Playhouse plays.

All pictures by BBPhotshop.